Contents

How to Buy Monero – An Easy Guide to Getting XMR Coins

Introduction

Monero is a cryptocurrency which focuses on private and anonymous transactions. It is one of the more respected privacy coins. While many people think that Bitcoin is anonymous, it is not.

Bitcoin’s public ledger is public and fully transparent, meaning anyone can see transactions made from any wallet address. While personally identifying information is not attached to a Bitcoin wallet, it’s not difficult to ascertain the IP address from which transactions were made. This makes is easier to discover the identity of the wallet owner.

Monero aims to fix this problem by using an obfuscated public ledger, masking the amount, destination and source of transactions.

Coin Metrics

As of the writing of this article, Monero’s (whose ticker is XMR) current metrics are:

Price – Over $130 per coin

Circulating supply – 16,247,032 XMR

Market Cap – $2,144,023,331 USD

How to buy Monero

Purchase with Fiat

There are several exchanges that allow you to buy Monero with fiat money. The most common method is to transfer fiat from a bank account, wire transfer or debit card into an exchange account. You can then buy Monero when the deposit has completed. Debit cards are typically instant while it takes 2-3 business days for bank transfers to go through.

Founded in Melbourne in 2013. Coinspot offers an easy way for Australians to purchase a large variety of coins with cash. They also support BPAY and POLi payment deposits. The have a clean and easy to use interface. With no history of major hacks, Coinspot seems to be a well run cryptocurrency exchange. Their fees are competitive and they have one of the largest choice of coins among fiat to crypto exchanges.

Kraken is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and one of the few that allow users to deposit fiat money into their account. Most crypto brokers charge high commissions and fees for this service, but Kraken does not. We really like their platform and their choice of coins.

Highly reputable exchange

Very low fees

High liquidity

Great choice of coins

Site has been known to crash

Not great for beginners

No credit card option

ID verification required

Theycallitcrypto Rating

Purchase with Crypto

The most popular way to buy Monero is to use another cryptocurrency you already own or purchased with fiat and exchange it for Monero. The reason this is more popular is due to the fact that there are many exchange choices that let you buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with fiat. And almost every major cryptocurrency exchange lets you trade Bitcoin or Ethereum for Monero.

Using this method gives you more control over your coins and access to better prices.

Step 1 – Buy Bitcoin or Ethereum

While it’s difficult to find exchanges that sell Monero for fiat, it’s not difficult to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with a bank account or debit card. We recommend buying Bitcoin or Ethereum over other popular coins because they are more stable and most exchanges have Bitcoin/Monero and Ethereum/Monero trading pairs.

A “social” exchange offering CFD trading, allowing users to long or short positions. You can invest in cryptocurrencies based on opinions of others in the community. It’s a different and fun way to approach trading. You can also trade stocks, commodities and forex. There are not many platforms that offer those markets together. You can’t transfer the coins you purchase off the etoro exchange though. You would have to convert it back to fiat to withdrawal your funds. So they don’t actually offer wallet services.

One of the original and most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges. They are headquartered in New York. Gemini works with both individual and instuitional investors, so their trading platform is very robust. Among exchanges, they are frontrunners in security and compliance. All USD accounts are insured by the FDIC. Our only gripe is that trading fees are a bit confusing and they favor high volume traders. But their fees are very competitive when compared to other fiat to crypto exchanges.

Founded in Melbourne in 2013. Coinspot offers an easy way for Australians to purchase a large variety of coins with cash. They also support BPAY and POLi payment deposits. The have a clean and easy to use interface. With no history of major hacks, Coinspot seems to be a well run cryptocurrency exchange. Their fees are competitive and they have one of the largest choice of coins among fiat to crypto exchanges.

Kraken is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and one of the few that allow users to deposit fiat money into their account. Most crypto brokers charge high commissions and fees for this service, but Kraken does not. We really like their platform and their choice of coins.

Based on the Isle of Man, this is a great choice for beginners in Europe. They have transparent pricing and the purchase process is very easy. Their site design is clean, modern and well thought out. They offer a decent mobile app as well.

An older and trusted exchange that’s based in Canada. They act as a broker between buyers and sellers. They charge a very high margin on coin prices, upwards of 30%. But they are on of the few that allow cash purchases. You can even mail or drop off cash at their office! Because of their high prices, we recommend them for selling your coins rather than purchasing.

Bitstamp is a well known exchange where you can buy and sell major cryptocurrencies with a checking account or credit card. You can also trade major crypto pairs. It is easy to use and has an advanced trading platform for more experienced traders.

A global exchange that does not operate in a traditional way. It allows users to trade coins with one another similar to the way an online auction site works. Users can search through buy and sell offers made by other users and choose they one they prefer. They also accept a huge number of payment methods. We really like Paxful trading concept.

A popular and reputable exchange in the EU. They operate as a broker so you’re buying crypto directly from them. They charge a premium on their prices as well as fees. So they are more expensive than many of their competitors. They do not offer a wallet service, so coins are deposited directly into your own wallet. You can also sell your coins back to them.

Extemely simple and clean interface. Well established. Great for rookie investors and EU customers. Among the cheaper exchanges with easy buy and sell functionality. Lots of payment options. No way to trade cryptocurrency pairs and lacking more advanced trading options. US customers are not allowed.

Bitquick acts as a 3rd party escrow service between buyers and sellers. Unlike most exchanges, buyers deposit cash directly into the seller’s bank account. Bitquick holds the seller’s Bitcoin until the payment has been verified and then sends it to the buyer. It’s a very simple and low risk process for those wanting to use cash.

Formely known as GDAX, Coinbase Pro is the trading platform ran by Coinbase. While Coinbase targets regular consumers wanting to buy and hold crypto, Coinbase Pro targets more experienced investors that trade more often. Fees for trading are much lower on Coinbase Pro than on Coinbase.

Beginner friendly and once of the easiest exchanges to buy cryptocurrencies with Us Dollars, Euros, Pounds or Rubles while also offering a good trading platform more more advanced users. We love the clean layout and ease of use. The have a solid security record as well.

LocalBitcoins connects sellers and buyers of Bitcoin together. Rather than buying directly from an exchange like Coinbase, you are buying directly from another person. It is one of the oldest, most trusted and most private crypto platforms. You can pay other for their Bitcoin online or with cash in face to face meetings. It doesn’t get more private than that.

Coinbase is one of the largest and oldest crypto exchanges. Customers can purchase cryptocurrency with regular fiat money using credit and debit cards as well as their bank account. Coinbase is good for new investors or those wanting to quickly buy coins with US Dollars or Euros. That being said, it’s not our favorite due to the high fees.

A fiat to crypto exchange located in London. They offer an easy way to purchase Bitcoin using several payment methods, including bank transfers and credit card. They advertise as being one of the easiest ways to buy or sell Bitcoin. Based on online reviews, there are some complaints about slow ID verification and problems with withdrawing funds. So exercise caution. We always suggest trying a small test purchase and withdrawal first.

Clean design

Simple to use

Very secure

Only offers Bitcoin

Fees are a little high

ID verification can be slow

Theycallitcrypto Rating

Step 2 – Trade cryptocurrency for Monero

Now that you own some crypto, it’s time to transfer it to an exchange that trades Monero. The transfer process is very easy and similar on most platforms. All you need is your wallet address on the exchange you wish to transfer the coins to. Just enter that wallet address when you withdraw the coins.

We recommend transferring your Bitcoin or Ethereum to the exchanges below. Each will allow you to trade your coins for Monero:

Based in Malta. They are one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Binance offers an advanced trading and charting platform. They supports a large and growing number of coins, all of which have high liquidity. Binance is a wonderful trading platform.

Experienced team

Great trading platform

High liquidity

Lots of coins

No fiat to crypto trading

Can't deposit fiat

Some security questions in past

Theycallitcrypto Rating

Please also check out our exchange comparison tool. By entering your desired payment method and location, it shows you the best choices of where to buy Monero.